Not exactly a happy ending for the characters played by Dennis Hopper (pictured), Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda, but it's all about the journey, not the destination, right? Despite its tragic finale, the late hippie-era flick (cowritten by Hopper and Fonda, and directed by the former) didn't seem to hurt motorcycle sales.

A one-week road trip from Chicago to L.A. theme park Walley World doesn't go exactly as planned for the Griswold family (Chevy Chase, Beverly DiAngelo, Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron) in this 1983 comedy classic, which spawned several sequels. But at least Chase's Clark Griswold gets to skinny-dip (albeit briefly) with Christie Brinkley as a glamorous stranger.

Pee-wee's Big Adventure: Before he became famous for a... Photo-4971032.67141 - Houston Chronicle

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Planes, Trains and Automobiles:

As Neal Page, Steve Martin learns it's best to have a Plan B -- and C, D and E -- when traveling home for Thanksgiving, especially when he keeps running into hapless Del Griffith (John Candy), in John Hughes' non-teencentric comedy.

: The ending redefines cliffhanger, but who wouldn't want to tool around the country in a '66 Thunderbird with Geena Davis (right) and Susan Sarandon -- especially with Brad Pitt as a, well, Pitt stop?

: If there are two people you really don't want to drive with from Providence, R.I., to Aspen, Colo., or anywhere, they're probably the brainless pals played by Jim Carrey (left) and Jeff Daniels in Peter Farrelly's comedy. Sample line: 'According to the map, we've only gone four inches.'

: In Mexican writer/director Alfonso Cuaron's coming-of-age tale, things get pretty cozy among the trio of two teenagers and a young, married woman on their impromptu road trip to find a Mexican beach called La Boca del Cielo.

When hitchhiking to Alaska to live on your own, pack way more trail mix for when you get there. (Too soon? Sorry, the Sean Penn-directed film is based on the true, tragic story immortalized in Jon Krakauer's book of the same name.)